Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has cast serious doubt on the viability of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, warning they may never function again despite a staggering $18 billion reportedly spent on their rehabilitation.

Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, made the remarks on Wednesday while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa group at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.

Referring to the refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, Dangote said their outdated infrastructure and years of mismanagement render them effectively obsolete, even with continued investments.

“I doubt very much if they will work,” he said bluntly. “It’s like trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine.”

Dangote also revealed that he had previously attempted to acquire the refineries in 2007 during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

Alongside other investors, he paid $750 million to take over the facilities. However, the transaction was reversed after the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua came into office.

“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We had to return them to the government because there was a change of government. And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working,” he said.

His comments echo earlier criticism by former President Obasanjo, who also expressed frustration at the refineries’ chronic underperformance.

Obasanjo said that despite warnings from experts and investors, including Dangote, Yar’adua’s administration halted the privatisation under the belief that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) could revive the facilities.

“NNPC knew they could not do it,” Obasanjo said. “They only wanted to keep milking the system. In a civilised society, those people should be in jail.”

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